Arsenal 4-3 Leicester City verdict: It's an agonising late defeat on opening night

Shinji Okazaki heads the ball past Petr Cech to make it 1-1 during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Leicester City at Emirates Stadium. Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

The first day of a new season is always a fresh start, but with Craig Shakespeare confirmed as permanent manager during the summer it may have felt to many as the dawning of a new era.

The 16 games he took charge of City last season were merely a trial period in many ways, a job interview, and he passed the test.

However, now he has been given the top job and had a transfer window to stamp his own indelible mark on the squad he can begin to be assessed.

The signings of Kelechi Iheanacho, Vicente Iborra, Harry Maguire and Eldin Jakupovic have all strengthened the core of his side, but only one started their opening day clash with Gunners.

Maguire lined-up alongside captain Wes Morgan at the heart of the defence, but Iborra was injured and Iheanacho deemed not ready to start.

There was a familiar look about the City starting line-up against an injury-ravaged Gunners side.

Riyad Mahrez may have announced he wanted to leave City for a fresh challenge, but he has not downed tools like so many other players at other clubs this summer, and Shakespeare had no qualms starting him against the club who have been strongly linked with him over the past two summers.

Jamie Vardy scores past Petr Cech to make it 1-2 during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Leicester City at Emirates Stadium. Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

Matty James also started in central midfield, 825 days after he last started a game for City, the clash with Southampton in 2015 where he injured his knee, sparking a two-year absence.

City hadn’t won a top-flight away game on the opening game of the season since 1933, and their last win in Arsenal was in 1973. They had beaten the Gunners just once in the Premier League era, at home in 1994, and had lost all three of their previous visits to the Emirates since returning to the Premier League in 2014.

The game exploded into life with two goals in the opening five minutes. First, poor marking between Morgan and Danny Simpson allowed £48 million striker Alexandre Lacazette to score with his second touch in the Premier League, planting a glancing header inside the far corner.

But City hit straight back when they caught the Gunners defence napping at a corner and Marc Albrighton’s deep cross was headed back into the danger area by Maguire and Okazaki headed home.

The game settled into a familiar pattern as Arsenal enjoyed the vast majority of possession and put City under pressure, but the visitors always looked menacing on the break.

City took the lead in the 29th minute when Albrighton pounced on a loose pass from Granit Xhaka and produced a superb low cross that was buried by Vardy.

Jamie Vardy scores his team's third goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Okazaki also went close as City looked to increase their advantage, but deep into added time Danny Welbeck equalised after Sead Kolasinac beat City’s offside trap and presented the England international with a simple tap-in.

Vardy could have scored in the 53rd minute when Mahrez sent him clear of the Gunners defence but Petr Cech was out of his goal quickly to save the day. However, Vardy made amends three minutes later when he leapt to head home Mahrez’s in-swinging corner.

City defended valiantly but couldn’t hold on and in the 83rd minute Ramsey was left unmarked at the far post and slotted home the equaliser, although replays showed a blatant handball from Mesut Ozil in the build-up to the goal. City just don’t get the rub of the green in north London.

A minute later disaster struck as fellow substitute Olivier Giroud outmuscled Morgan and Maguire to head home the winner.

What could have been a fantastic start to the Shakespeare era became just another disappointment at the Emirates Stadium.

Jamie Vardy celebrates after scoring to make it 1-2 during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Leicester City at Emirates Stadium Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images